Congress has reinstated the Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) Program through November 30, 2010, with benefits retroactive to June 2, 2010. While all states await official confirmation and further guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor, here is our current understanding of the changes enacted by Congress.

Unemployment Insurance programs in Rhode Island
Prior to June 2, Rhode Island had implemented the available Unemployment Insurance benefit programs in the following order, with claimants transitioning from one program to the next as their particular program benefits were exhausted:

Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (up to 4 tiers of benefits totaling up to a 53-week maximum, dependent on eligibility)

State Extended Benefits (two tiers of benefits totaling up to a 20-week maximum, dependent on eligibility)

Claimants who transitioned to State Extended Benefits after June 2
Since June 2, however, many unemployment insurance claimants collecting under the federal EUC program have transitioned to the State Extended Benefits (EB) program while Congress debated the renewal of the federal EUC program. If these claimants had not exhausted all possible tiers of the program before transitioning to State Extended Benefits, they may have additional tiers of EUC benefits available to them, after they complete their maximum benefits under the State Extended Benefits program. If this is the case, these claimants will be notified of their eligibility for additional EUC benefit tiers as they near the maximum of their State Extended Benefits..

Those who are not currently collecting unemployment insurance benefits because they did not qualify for or have recently exhausted all State Extended Benefits will be notified if they are eligible for additional tiers of federal EUC benefits. Notification should occur as soon as Rhode Island receives the necessary guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Claimants who transitioned to State Extended Benefits before June 2Those claimants who had exhausted their full EUC benefits prior to June 1, 2010 have already received their full complement of benefits through the federal EUC program and are not eligible for additional weeks of EUC benefits at this time.